Month: May 2020

May 29, 2020

Spring is the season of new life in many parts of the world. The flowers are blossoming, the trees are budding, and many different species of animals are born. We celebrate the birth of several feline right here at our own zoo. May is a big month for all 3 of our snow leopards. The male Kaba turned 10 on the 10th, the female Timila turned 4 on the 24th, and their first male offspring, Silver, turned 1 year old on the 27th. This isn’t just a coincidence – snow leopards have only one mating season annually (January-March) and ~90-110 day pregnancy so cubs are generally born late spring/early summer. The last 8 months since Silver went out on exhibit have been filled with both adventures, as well as learning many new important life skills for his future.

Silver has come a long way during his first year of life here at our zoo. His “education” began as soon as he emerged from the nest box, at just two months of age. His mom taught him to follow her, as well as to stay put. Just like any youngster, staying in one place is not easy! He learns a lot by mimicking his mother’s behaviors. Lucky for his keepers, she is a very intelligent cat who set him up for success, and, he is extremely food motivated. Once he learned how to shift from area to area, since he was about three months old, he has been getting weighed weekly. He weighed about one pound at birth, and has been continually gaining approximately one pound per week since then. At a year old, he now weighs a solid 56 pounds! As a juvenile, aka “teenager”, he is almost as big as his mother, but about half the size of his father.

Over this spring, Silver finally managed to get up on top of the one remaining high perch, where Timila would go to get some personal space. Although he is relentless in his pursuit of play, she out-maneuvers him every time. He has been entertaining himself with toys in the splash pool, and she has been showing him how to “fish” the decoy ducks out of it. The pool will help them to stay cool in the hot summer months ahead. The adults prepare for the heat in their own way every spring by shedding their winter coats. Matter of fact, Silver started losing his cub “fuzz” this month. He is turning in to quite the handsome young snow leopard! One of his favorite positions to lie in is, on his back with his fluffy belly up, just like his father Kaba. 🙂

– Heidi Beifus

Header photo: Assistant Curator Kellee Wolowitz

May 27, 2020

The video below was made to show what otter training looks like from the trainer’s perspective. Here, I’m working with Heather the otter. Otters Heather and Sara worked with me using free contact (no barrier between us) while Sailor, I’m still working protected contact training with (we have a barrier between us). The otters are taught with both a verbal cue and a hand signal for the same behavior. In my right hand I have a clicker which I use to let her know she performed the behavior correctly. I also use my right hand to signal a behavior. I use my left hand to give her her food reward for doing a correct behavior. Our otters are taught through positive reinforcement. We never punish them or ask them to do something they don’t want to do. Participating in training is their choice.At the beginning, I come out with a target pole. I ask her to go in the water and to touch her nose to the pole. I say “target” and then I click the clicker to let her know what she did was correct. I then give her part of her diet (fish and meat) as a reward. Next I tell her “land” and have her come out of the water. I then tell her “up” and have her get up on her “station stump”. While she is on here I ask her for different behaviors such as targeting to my hand, waving, asking for her to touch her left and right paws to my finger, and I say “stand” to get her to stand up on her back legs. By asking her to do these things helps me see different parts of her body more closely and to make sure she is healthy. Next I say “down” for her to come off her stump and then say “back”and hold out two fingers above her. This is her cue to lay on her back and hold the position as long as I keep my fingers up. This lets me check out her underside. She is also trained to let me touch her paws as well while she is in this position.

Next I tell her “water” and have her get in the pool. I then tell her “back” which has her swimming on her back, and “spin” where she will do a barrel roll in the water. Then I tell her “rock” which has her climb up on top of the rock formation and dive into the pool. These three water behaviors are natural otter behaviors that I captured them doing naturally and just added a cue to get them to do the behavior when asked to.

Next I tell her “land” and have her come back out of the water and say “up” to get her back on her stump. Then I have someone on the other side of the otter pool glass hold up Heather’s shape, a red circle, and then I ask Heather to target to that shape. Each of our otters have a certain shape and color that I have them target too. Sara’s is a yellow square and Sailor’s is a blue triangle. They all know their own shape/color. This behavior also led to several studies with RIT.

Once Heather finished targeting to her shape, I have her go back on land and bring her to the recycling bin. I hand her a soda bottle and tell her to “grasp” which she holds an object in her paws. Then I point to the bin and she drops the bottle in.

This is not a “trick” behavior as otters naturally grasp objects. I had her do this particular behavior to send a powerful and important message when viewing our otter training demo by having our otters tell you that recycling is a very important thing that you can do to help protect river otters.

Finally I have her go back up on the stump and tell her to “wave”. This is our final behavior and this is how I end the otter training demos. Then I get her to go back in the water where I give her a “jackpot” reward and give her a few pieces of her diet and then let her know the training session is over by saying “all done” and doing the hand signal.

Zoo Keeper Catina Wright

May 21, 2020

Our female Amur tiger, Katya, was born at the Seneca Park Zoo on May 21, 2005. Katya can often be found napping around her habitat or playing with enrichment. Some of her favorite enrichment items include boxes and bags, and spices such as ground ginger and nutmeg!

Once known as Siberian tigers, the name changed to Amur tiger to reflect their home range more accurately. These tigers are found within the Amur River Valley in southeast Russia and northeastern China. Amur tigers are the largest cat species in the world; adult males can grow up to 11ft long and be over 600 lbs! Adult females grow to around 9ft long and are 300-400lbs. Amur tigers are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

An Amur tiger’s median life expectancy is 14 years. At 15, Katya shows signs of arthritis and age-related issues. She receives daily treatment, which includes supplements and pain relievers, that she takes very easily in a favorite treat of hers, a fish called a capelin! Last year, her habitat was also renovated to give Katya easier ways to perform natural behaviors. A large high bench was installed, which she lays on almost daily to watch her surroundings. Surrounding stumps make it easy for her to get up and down. Tigers are one of the few cat species who enjoy water, so a large pool was buried in her yard. Katya loves to soak in it on hot days.

We can’t wait to have you all back at the zoo to learn about our amazing animals and help us celebrates Katya’s 16th year!

– Randi Krieger

 

*Top header photo taken by Kenny Krieger

In celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re recognizing our many animal moms at the Zoo.  Hear a little bit about each of them from their keepers!

California Sea Lions

James Weinpress

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to share some fun facts about Lily, Seneca Park Zoo’s resident California sea lion mom, and how her species raises pups to survive the rigors of life on rocky coasts of the Pacific Ocean!

California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are found on the west coast of the U.S. from British Columbia to Baja, California. During their breeding season, typically May to August, females head south to warmer climates to give birth to a single pup before breeding with the strongest male within their territory.

Quickly after birth, mother and pup learn to identify one another through vocalizations and their unique scents. This allows for the mother to identify their own pup from dozens of other pups scattered along a beach when returning from foraging at sea. As the pup grows, the mom will spend longer time away hunting to replenish her energy and milk supply.

Lily arrived at the Seneca Park Zoo in 1997 as a pup, after rehabilitation from a gunshot injury to her right front flipper. She was deemed non-releasable due to the severity of her injury and her young age. Lily is our oldest sea lion at approximately 10 years old; she is a calm and patient animal that her keepers very much enjoy working with!

As an accredited institution of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), Seneca Park Zoo participates in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) for California sea lions. This conservation program sends out breeding recommendations to zoological facilities across the country, and ensures the sea lion population under human care is healthy and genetically diverse.

To everyone’s delight, Lily became a first time mother in June 2017 when she gave birth to Bob. Bob has grown quickly and, at approximately 200 pounds, is already almost as heavy as Lily! As a mature male, he may grow to weigh anywhere between 500 to 700 pounds.

On Mother’s Day this year, think about the ways you can support Lily and her wild counterparts along the coast. We share our love of seafood with sea lions, so purchasing sustainably sourced seafood ensures that there will be healthy populations of fish for both humans and sea lions for generations to come. Check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to learn which are the best seafood choices.

Olive baboons

Jenna Bovee

Does anyone know how many moms we have in our baboon troop? We have five! Pimiento, Pearl, Peperella, Olive Oil, and Sabina. Pearl is also a grandmother to Peperella’s son, Pico de Limon. Although these females aren’t recent mothers, their role as one still remains. Being incredibly social beings, just like human families, they comfort and support each other, and squabble and fight!

Females typically stay with their natal troop their entire lives. They are born into their position within the troop, and if they are high-ranking, they will hand their position on to their daughters. Mothers form strong bonds of friendship, tending to stick together to give each other support and share child-care duties. Sound familiar to all of you moms out there?

As their youngsters have aged into adults, these mothers continue to share behaviors with their offspring such as grooming, protecting them during spats with others and because they are such vocal creatures, they even have become someone to chat about life with.  During your next Zoo visit, look for those that have paired off to groom and sleep together. They are probably our moms with their offspring!Snow Leopards

Heidi Beifus

Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be a snow leopard mother? This is snow leopard Timila’s first “official” Mother’s Day. Last year at this time, she was presumed pregnant, and expecting to give birth by mid-June. The average gestation period for snow leopards is approximately one hundred days, with about a two week window. The snow leopard breeding season is typically January through April, so females usually give birth from April to August. Timila gave birth on May 27, 2019, to a boy, later to be named Silver. She had just turned 3 years old herself, only three days before that, on May 24th. What a birthday present that was!

Even though she was a young first-time mom, her motherly instincts kicked right in. From that point on, Timila and her cub spent the next two months inside their private maternity den, which contained a specially designed nest box just for them. Timila spent all of her time nursing him, and cleaning him, and keeping him safe and warm. It is during this time period that cubs ears and eyes open, and they learn to crawl and walk. She only left that area just long enough to get food and go to the bathroom.While Timila was secured separately in the adjoining room eating, she let her keepers do a quick cub check, which she allowed because of the trust they had built with each other. Timila began forming her relationship with her keepers in March of 2018, when they picked her up from the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia. It is that same bond that enabled her keepers to observe all of Silver’s next milestones with her.

At about eight weeks old, snow leopard cubs start venturing outside of the nest box, and he was no exception. Timila spent the next two months supervising him, as he learned how to follow her, eat solid foods (meat), run, jump, climb, maneuver through all the inside rooms, and then traverse the outside yard in back.

When Silver was about four months old, they were ready to make their big debut, so in September of 2019, for the very first time, Timila and her son went out on the main exhibit together. All Zoo staff, volunteers, and guests alike got the rare opportunity to celebrate the first snow leopard cub born at our Zoo in over 20 years. What a special mother our snow leopard is! Today, we honor her, her mother, and all of the moms out there, who all do it 24/7, like Timila.